Ocean Color Image Gallery

The Ben Franklin - Grumman/Piccard PX-15 Submersible

50th Anniversary of the Gulf Stream Drift Mission

July 14, 1969 - August 14, 1969

Timing is everything. In the summer of 1969, two missions set out on voyages of exploration and discovery. Both represented the ultimate challenge of technology and the human quest for knowledge. One would blast off from Florida so that two men could leave their footprints on the Sea of Tranquility while the other would plunge into the very core of that great ocean current, the Gulf Stream.

At 8:56 P.M. (EDT) July 14, 1969, Grumman Aerospace Corporation's research submarine Ben Franklin slipped beneath the surface of the Atlantic off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida carrying a crew of six comprised of engineers, oceanographers and a former Navy captain. In addition, NASA sends along one crew member whose job it was to evaluate the use of the Ben Franklin as a space station analogue.

The Ben Franklin's mission was to investigate the secrets of the Gulf Stream as it drifted northward at depths of 600-2,000 feet; to learn the effects on humans of a long-duration, closed-environment stressful voyage; to demonstrate the engineering-operational concepts of longterm submersible operation; and to conduct other scientific oceanographic studies.

This longest privately-sponsored undersea experiment of its kind ended more than 30-days and 1,444 nautical miles later, when the Franklin and its crew surfaced some 300 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, at 7:58 A.M. August 14, 1969.

NASA eventually publishes a five volume report on the Franklin's mission which has provided critical information which will be used to plan subsequent space habitats like Skylab, the Shuttle, and ultimately the International Space Station.

To begin your journey along with the brave crew of the Ben Franklin on their voyage of discovery, click on the icon of the submarine below.